False beliefs about economics and political philosophy may be devastating in aggregate, but for the individual the cost of choosing to embrace fallacy is negligible. So, as Caplan argues, it is perfectly rational for many to stubbornly cling to false but “emotionally appealing” beliefs. There are no individual, internalized costs that could possibly outweigh whatever emotional benefit the false belief might have.

She feels entitled to students who cheerfully eat whatever is put on their plates with gusto, even though they had zero say in it, and she expects parents and society at large to send her students who are properly enthusiastic, despite the fact that they have been conscripted into attendance and the entire curriculum is designed by people who consider the students to be a raw material to be processed, graded, and sorted for corporate Human Resources departments.